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Although Kant is best known for his abstract ethical writings, you might be surprised to learn that this philosophical giant had things to say about gossiping, doing favours, getting drunk, telling white lies and being a good dinner party guest. This book will help you understand the essential framework of Kant's ethical theory, with its emphasis on rationality, freedom and hopefulness.

This text is a philosophical exploration of the gap between our moral ideals and the imperfect moral reality in which we live, and the implications of that gap for the practical project of moral improvement. We are limited in our ability to recognize and be guided by moral ideals, owing to a variety of moral and epistemic shortcomings. In light of that, how can the practical project of moral improvement get off the ground? An account of moral improvement should begin from psychologically plausible starting points, and it should also rely on ideals that are both normatively authoritative and regulatively efficacious for the agent taking up the project. The work argues that moral improvement should be understood as the project of articulating and inhabiting an aspirational moral identity.

The author uses this work to demonstrate that manners lead to the roots of ethical questions. She states that they are authorotative in that they are a primary means by whch we express moral attitudes and commitments and carry out important moral goals. In this work she uses Aristotle and Kant, along with other cultural examples such as Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice or Larry David's Curb Your Enthusiasm to illustrate these points.